The 15 small scholars in their maroon-and-white uniforms had long since left when the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education finally took up the question of whether those children will wear the same uniforms next fall. Benjamin E. Mays Preparatory School in the Desire area was one of four New Orleans charter schools facing shutdown, and its administrators and teachers stayed in Baton Rouge late into Tuesday evening to beg the board for one last chance. But it might have been for naught.

Mays is governed by BESE as part of the state's Recovery School District, which took control of most of New Orleans' schools after Hurricane Katrina. BESE has the power to grant new charter schools a fifth year to prove themselves before receiving a definite yes or no for the future.

The board presented data that mean, according to state policy, that the school has to close: In its first three years, Mays neither got its students above the standardized pass mark nor improved their test scores by 15 points. Its most recent school performance score was 53.3 -- an F.

Benjamin E. Mays Preparatory School students came to the state board of education on Tuesday to ask the state to keep their school open.Danielle Dreilinger, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune

Mays Principal Shanda Gentry, however, had her own data that showed students who attended the school longer had higher test scores. The newer students brought the overall score down.

"We're not asking to lower the bar. We're asking for more time ... because we're so confident that we're finally at a place where we have things together," Gentry said.

Gentry had additional facts to bolster her argument. "We have no explusions. At all. Zero," she said, and "80 percent of our kids we keep year to year." The pre-K-6 school is completely full in every grade but fifth.

Patricia Walker, who teaches second grade at Mays, praised its academic rigor, which includes extended learning time and two reading interventionists.

Mays board chairman Sidney Barthelemy charged that the school took on additional students at the RSD's behest -- and that the decision worked against them. For one thing, RSD recommended that Mays open with pre-K through second grade instead of the charter's planned pre-K-1. So, the school had students in testing grades one year earlier than envisioned, one year less for Mays to make a difference. Second, RSD intended for Mays to gradually absorb the student body of the troubled Carver Elementary School, but then sped up the process.

Teachers urged BESE to reconsider, saying Mays went deep into the lives of its students. "We make sure that they eat every day. We make sure that their families eat every day," teacher Jasmine Graves said. "We make sure that they have shoes."

"It's not just a place where students are data points," said reading interventionist Christina Grayson. One Mays mom brought a petition with more than 600 signatures supporting Mays, gathered in less than a week.

However, the arguments didn't convince the people on the dais. They expressed regret and praised Gentry's abilities, but said Mays simply didn't make the grade.

"This is the hardest thing we do," said BESE member Holly Boffy, a former teacher based in Baton Rouge. "You present a very compelling case. But at the end of the day, we have to have high standards."

"It is the lowest-scoring elementary school in the parish," said John White, state superintendent of education. "It was the lowest-scoring in the state," Barthelemy rebutted.

Even looking at the third-graders who had been at Mays for their whole elementary education, "more than half of them aren't on-level at math," White said. "You've done a good job but I don't think there's a definitive guarantee for this board that it's going to be better for children" to grant Mays the extension.

RSD Superintendent Patrick Dobard agreed. "The competition and the level of quality is rising all the time," he said. "We know we have much better-performing schools in reasonable proximity, alternatives that would be good for families."

One hour after Gentry and Barthelemy stepped up to the microphone, the board's School Innovation and Turnaround Committee voted to approve the state Department of Education's recommendation to close Mays at the end of this academic year. The full board will take a final vote Wednesday.